Car crash victim's family to sue state because driver should have been in prison

The family of Lindsay Hill, left, planned to file a suit over the mistaken release of Robert Jackson.

The family of 35-year-old Lindsay Hill plans to sue the Washington Department of Corrections claiming it should be held responsible for her death.

Lindsay died in a car crash in 2015 but the man responsible for her death should never have been in the car in the first place. Robert Jackson, 39, was supposed to be behind bars at the time of the crash.

Investigators said the man driving the car was Jackson, a man who the Washington Department of Corrections mistakenly released from prison before he completed his prior sentence. Lindsay Hill was dating him at the time, and was a passenger in his car when he drunkenly crashed into an electrical utility box in Bellevue.

“Robert Jackson was a two-strike felon, he should have been in prison,” said Noel’s attorney Mike Wampold.

More than 3,000 men and women had been mistakenly released early from state custody – all because of a computer error that had been incorrectly padding inmates for good behavior for approximately 10 years.

For Jackson, the error released him from prison nearly four months early. It was Hill’s oldest son who found his mother dead at the crash scene. Now he and his younger brother are still struggling to cope with their loss.

“The Noels and these little boys are the victims of the State of Washington releasing violent felons into the community,” said Wampold.

The tort claim filed by Lindsay’s parents on her kids’ behalf doesn’t specify any amount of money for damages. The state has 60 days to respond.

The Department of Corrections told Q13 News it does not comment on pending litigation, but shared a statement that reads in part:

“The Washington Department of Corrections recognizes that mistakes were made with Mr. Jackson’s sentencing calculations and that Ms. Hill’s family has experienced a tragic loss.”